Oceaneering International is providing the following operations update on its manufacturing facility in Panama City, Florida and its recovery from Hurricane Michael. Roderick Larson, Oceaneering's President and CEO, stated, "Exceeding our own expectations, production activities at our Panama City facility have resumed. Subsea hardware load-outs are in progress, and umbilical deliveries are scheduled to begin this week. Our production equipment has undergone extensive testing and is mostly operational. We do, however, expect repair work to continue through the end of December. We continue to believe that, on balance, we fared well relative to the severity of the storm. Once again, we thank our employees, customers, vendors and the Panama City community as we continue to support each other."

Management said, "Looking forward, we believe our fourth quarter 2018 results will be lower than our adjusted third quarter results due to the onset of seasonality leading to reduced levels of offshore energy activity. Sequentially, we expect lower operating income from each of our energy segments, with most of the decline expected to be in Subsea Products and Subsea Projects segments. Additionally, in our Subsea Products segment we are expecting an unfavorable impact at our manufacturing facility in Panama City, Florida due to damage caused by Hurricane Michael in mid-October 2018. For our non-energy segment, Advanced Technologies, we are projecting a quarterly improvement in operating income. Unallocated Expenses are expected to be in the upper-$20 million range. For the full year of 2018, we currently expect our adjusted EBITDA to be in the lower half of the guidance range of $140 million to $160 million. And, we continue to expect each of our operating segments will contribute positive EBITDA. We are encouraged that the long-term fundamentals for the offshore energy industry have stabilized and we believe we are now in the early stages of a recovery in activity in general, and in our businesses. We expect a recovery will take time, and only after a sustained higher level of activity can prices for our services and products be increased enough to generate satisfactory returns. Accordingly, looking into 2019, we are projecting increased activity levels in each of our segments, likely led by revenue gains in our Subsea Products manufacturing business unit. However, the pace of recovery is still difficult to determine, and at this time we are not prepared to offer more detailed guidance on 2019."

Oceaneering price target raised to $24 from $18 at SunTrust. SunTrust analyst Ken Sill raised his price target on Oceaneering to $24, saying that its FY18 deepwater activity should mark a trough and head higher next year. The analyst notes that his new price target assumes a 14-times FY19 EBITDA multiple, which is a premium to the company's historical valuations but suitable based on his expected start of a multi-year up-trend. Sill also keeps his Hold rating however, adding that expectations of "offshore upstream spending hasn't yet manifested itself in the form of a steady increase in the offshore rig count".

Oceaneering International provided an update on the impact of Hurricane Michael on Oceaneering's personnel and manufacturing facility in Panama City, Florida. Roderick Larson, Oceaneering's President and CEO stated, "In preparation for the landfall of Hurricane Michael, we activated our local emergency preparedness plan, securing the facility, equipment and products, and allowed our personnel time to seek shelter safely. From our initial visual inspection of the site, we are pleased with how well the plant, equipment and products fared during the storm. It appears that our equipment, inventory and products are in good condition. However, some of our buildings sustained moderate roof and siding damage. Power has been restored to the facility, and clean-up and repair services are currently underway. Over the coming days, we intend to conduct a further assessment of the site. The safety and welfare of our employees remain our top priorities."

Societe Generale cuts Weatherford to sell amid oil services rating shake-up. As previously reported, Societe Generale analyst Edward Muztafago made several ratings changes in the oil services space as he recommended rotating more fully into offshore and reducing U.S. land exposure. He views U.S. activity being poised for constrained growth following an anticipated recovery from "the current frac malaise," while believing offshore activity appears set to inflect, Muztafago tells investors. With that backdrop view, he upgraded Ensco (ESV), Noble Corp. (NE) and Oceaneering (OII), all to Buy from Hold, downgraded Halliburton (HAL) to Hold from Buy and lowered his rating on Weatherford (WFT) to Sell from Buy. Current U.S. challenges and the "stock market meltdown" create risk to Weatherford's asset divestiture plans that investors are so concerned about and "stumbles may not be well received," Muztafago stated.

Oceaneering International (OII) announced that it entered into a contract with Subsea 7 (SUBCY) to supply an umbilical and flying leads for Shell's (RDS.A, RDS.B) deepwater Vito development in the Mississippi Canyon area of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The contract is for an electro-hydraulic steel tube control umbilical, and flying leads, totaling approximately nine kilometers in length. Product design and engineering will start in the third quarter of 2018, with manufacturing expected to commence in 2019, at Oceaneering's facility in Panama City, Florida. The contract work scope is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2020.